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3 Ways to Manage The Uncertainties Of Life

Oh, this uncertain life……..

I’ve always struggled with control. I think it became my mind’s coping mechanism after going through an emotionally troubled childhood. I used to have this incessant need of having to know every single detail of what’s going to happen in the day so that I get ready for it.

I was terrible at having to be spontaneous at things, I just couldn’t. If something came up that wasn’t planned for or wasn’t on the agenda, anxiety would take over and I wouldn’t know what to do with it.

This has lessened now, after working out through the issue when I was in recovery from my anorexia. Since I eventually understood that my need for control, the need to know the outcome of any situation was, at the heart of it, fear taking over.

The fear of getting hurt again, and my mind after many years got into the habit of believing that by being able to control/know the outcome, it can minimize the chances of getting hurt….

Uncertainty is a part of life.

But of course. That’s no way to live. Uncertainty is an inevitable part of life. and it’s how we respond and manage it that matters. As my life unfolds into a new chapter, it’s teaching me a lot about how to manage with the uncertainty of the days that will come.

I want to share these tips that I’ve learned with you and I hope that it will benefit you as much as it has helped me!

Life is like a car shining its headlights; showing us the next step we need to go.

When a car shines its headlights while driving in the dark, the light will shine only as far as the driver needs to see. As the car moves forward, the headlights will continue to move forward with the driver.

The metaphor here signifies that Life will give you as much as you need to see at this moment in time. When we come to grasp this, the uncertainty melts away because we come into a relationship with Life.

We come to trust that Life will guide us forward in just giving us a bit of ‘preview’ of what’s to come and that’s all that we need.

We can always go forth in the direction that lights us up. When the time comes again to move forward, life will show us again where we need to go.

Don’t think too far ahead.

We sometimes may speculate and worry too much about the future that we lose track of what’s important in the present. Yes, we don’t know where Life will lead us in the next few months, but what we can put our trust is in the present moment. Again, back to number 1, Life will lead us to where the next natural passage for us to go in, all we need to do is to take care in focusing in the present moment.

When we get too caught up in thinking about our future, we might begin to have expectations… ‘Oh, I’m going to achieve this by such and such, I want to have this by such and such time.’ Expectations might risk us from getting disappointed. It gets in the way of the natural flow of life, of the unfolding, of nurturing the process and learning as it goes.

So breathe…. let go, and release any expectations that you may have and allow your journey of Life to unfold as it should be.

Have faith; it’s all going to be good!

As I worked through and released my underlying need to control, I began reflecting on the good and tough times in my life. It came to my realisation that the tough times became the greatest teaching periods in my life. Yes, I cried, I struggled, had many sleepless nights (like this one…) and went through depression; but what are we without our wounds? It is after all of our wounds that we gain our most earnest wisdom.

And that’s where we grow, so have faith, have the conviction that even when we encounter tough times, it is where we will experience the most radical life learning moments.

So, I’m going to shift gears, and practice turning any anxiety or fear I may have about the uncertainties of the future and turn it into the excitement of what’s to come instead. and I hope that you’ll shift gears with me too.